Scarlet

Well, if they’re gonna go all out like that then I might as well do the same. So I activate Bloodborne Apocalypse, making all of the demons in the area freeze up as their skin starts bubbling. Including the two Nobles. But the Nobles manage to continue activating their ritual skill, only faltering a little when the bubbles on both them and the demons around them start exploding and shooting droplets of plagued blood through the air to pierce into everything except the humans.

But regardless of the damage done to them by my plagues, the ritual skill continues, making the orb grow larger and larger. And at some point the orb begins to writhe with what appears to be little serpents of darkness leaping out of the surface and back inside again. All while an enormous amount of mana flows inside of it.

I grimace as I feel a lot of my own mana drain from my mythic skill. Then I finally transform into my quadrupedal form with a loud roar right as the massive ritual skill orb is sent moving towards me. And along with my roar, I forcefully grab all of the blood in the area including the blood I made from Bloodborne Apocalypse and drag it into an orb to counter the one heading towards me. I even yank out the blood from the nearby demons who are already close enough to death that I can get past their reality to grab it, killing them off too.

Then I push my own orb of plagued and ruined blood to meet with the orb of blood and darkness moving towards me, making the two clash in the middle of the air.

Shockwaves are immediately sent out from the two orbs carrying along both darkness and blood, and I quickly raise my voice, shouting at the Guardians, “Retreat Guardians!”

All of the Guardians are immediately teleported out of the rift made by my second in command, following which the shockwaves crash into the surroundings, slaughtering demons by the hundreds. And it’s not just the demons, but everything around the area. The ground is being torn up, the trees disintegrated by the darkness, grass corrupted by the plagues, and rotting and boiling bodies lying all over.

Even the spatial walls around this dimensional rift are beginning to crack.

I grit my teeth as I continue pushing the orb at the other orb, feeling pain from the shockwaves hitting me as well. But I’m not the only one as I hear screaming coming from the other side of the orbs where I see the two Noble vampires practically shrieking as my plagues run rampant through their bodies.

So after a brief hesitation, I activate Blood of Ruin, increasing the chaos further as I quickly use the blood of ruin formed by the skill to empower my orb further right when my orb starts to move in my direction, losing out to their orb.

I cough out a mouthful of blood and grimace at the sight of my orb still moving in my direction.

Damnit, just how fucking powerful is that ritual skill?!

Well, this fight will be a bit harder than I expected.

I grit my teeth before letting out another roar while enhancing my Blood Manipulation skill along with all of the other skills filling the orb. And slowly but surely, my orb begins to push back against their orb, forcing it closer and closer to the two vampires who are now starting to look panicked along with their pain from the shockwaves.

Cuts begin to open up all over my body as my life energy is drained by my own skill. But even then, the orbs still manage to reach a stalemate when the orbs make it to the halfway point between us.

The wounds on my body repeatedly open up and close as my body regenerates and is hurt over and over again. And despite Pain Diffusion stopping me from feeling all of the pain, I still somehow feel tense and stress all over that has me letting out another roar.

Out of nowhere I hear cracking sounds as blood begins to pour out of my eyes, mouth, nose, and even the pores on my skin. All while I push more and more of my life energy into the skills.

But then both vampires begin roaring on their own, making my eyes widen as I look through the blood in my vision to find them both sending attacks my way from around the orbs. So I grit my teeth and create two Scarlet Aegis on either side of me, blocking the hits while putting a vast amount of my remaining mana into using a skill I haven’t used all that often, mostly to keep it a secret from the demons.

Healing Reversal.

Both vampires immediately cough out blood as I pour massive amounts of mana into the skill, restoring wounds all over the two vampires. Every last wound they had gotten in the last year. And that proves to be enough to stop their secondary attacks and give my own orb the chance to push back.

It starts slowly at first, then speeds up faster and faster before both orbs are sent flying at the vampires.

Moments before the two vampires are enveloped by the orbs, I glimpse them giving a sad smile through the blood covering my vision.

Then the orbs merge together and devour the vampires, following which they implode, sending little bolts of blood all over, shattering the dimensional barrier and releasing everything into the natural world around us. And at the same time, I sense the other humans teleporting away to get out of the range of danger.

I grin before collapsing to the ground, heaving in exhaustion.

Seconds later, Divider appears in front of me and pours a health potion down my throat, followed shortly after by a mana potion.

I smile as the relief fills me. Then, just as planned, I stand back up on all four feet, raise my head into the sky, and howl.

But for some reason, I still feel… strange.

I frown before focusing inwards and finding corruption there. Likely from their ritual skill.

So I try to get rid of it using Bane of Corruption, only for it to not work.

A ritual skill corruption.

Shit.

I look back at where the vampires last were.

Guess they got one last laugh in the end after all.